This article employs an interpretive autoethnographic approach to explore how the author navigates the paradigmatic contradictions between poststructuralism as a theoretical framework and his personal religious beliefs. It narrates and analyzes how the researcher arrives at specific understandings of reality, knowledge, and the self. The author…

For refugee migrants, proficiency in the language of their host country is a significant factor affecting their chance of integration and employment in their new society. For this reason, many Western nations provide host-country language training for such migrants. Australia thus offers English language training within its Vocational Education…

This study explores the development of intercultural competence through the lived experience of an Indonesian doctoral Muslim student pursuing higher education in Australia. We employ a narrative inquiry case study approach; the research delves into the participants' personal and academic journeys, examining how intercultural interactions in a…

At a time when "difference" is being actively diluted in the service of standardisation and conservative views of nationhood, stories about difference, and their semiotic and multimodal elements, provide rich grounds for critical engagement. This is especially the case with stories about highly visible cultural symbols, such as the…

Islamic schools are growing exponentially in the West to meet the demands of Muslim learners and their parents. Today, there are hundreds of Islamic schools that are constantly expanding. A key focus of the philosophy of Islamic schools and education is the nurturing of the mind, body and soul. Yet, to date, there is no book that addresses the…

This study explores the instructional practices implemented by two Muslim homeschooling mothers living in Australia. These mothers have homeschooled their primary-aged children for at least one year. The research aims to understand Muslim homeschooling parents' pedagogical practices to apply learner-centred teaching (LCT) to cater for students'…

This book examines critically major issues confronting human rights implementation in schools, both locally and globally. It analyzes the challenges that different societies are confronted with, as they attempt to implement, protect and defend democracy, cultural diversity and human rights in schools. The book also documents human rights…

While the preference for university by school leavers has been researched extensively, this article seeks to explore if religious influence might also come to play when selecting a university, with particular reference to Australia, a country whose higher education environment is largely made up of public, secular universities. The data used is…

Within the social imaginary of Australia's dominant 'White' culture, ethnic minority men, particularly Muslim men, are often depicted as 'folk devils,' resistant to the cultural norms of mainstream society. Muslim masculinities have been problematically conflated with notions of radicalisation, terrorism and violent extremism. There has been…

Prejudice towards Muslim people in Western countries is common and increasing. This paper describes an educational intervention aimed at increasing positive attitudes and actions to support Muslim Australians. University students participated in a 12-week educational programme that drew on prejudice reduction principles and a pedagogical approach…

This essay uses storytelling as a mode of inquiry to explore how students with languages other than English and with diasporic experiences and identities negotiate a pathway for themselves in a relentlessly Anglophone environment. I share a story that provides a small window into the everyday work of an English teacher in a large, linguistically…

This paper draws on critical race theory to explore the reproduction and enactment of Islamophobia in education policy. It will focus on an unprecedented policy intervention in which the federal Australian government withdrew funding from the largest Islamic private schools in the country. Australia represents a useful context to explore…

In the field of preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) schools have an important role to play, but precisely how policy actors and educators should best respond to extremism within their schools remains uncertain. Reporting on data from a broader study, this article draws on semi-structured interviews with three participants. The…

Contemporary campaigns for public education rest upon an assumption that public schools are fundamental to an equitable and inclusive society. In this paper, I reflect on this presumption by exploring the inherent tensions of the meaning and practice of 'public' education, especially when the 'public' in public schooling is linked to political…

Objectives: To examine the effect of spirituality and spiritual training on resilience in primary caregiver parents of children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). Methods: A cross-country pre- and post-test-based experimental design has been used. The sample of this one-year-long study comprised 1687 parents of children with ASD in 15…